Week 14 - Search engines and myths

Sometimes when I'm struggling with a topic for a blog, I go to MSN's homepage to look for a catchy heading because there is always something interesting featured on there Today, I found an article about the nine car-care myths I should ignore. As I read through the article, I found four myths that I thought were facts and followed closely. I'm not a big car enthusiast, but I've been taught a number of things by my stepdad who is a diesel mechanic and my boyfriend and a couple guy friends who work on cars as a hobby.

Myth number one that I believe and follow and always will probably: engine oil should be changed every 3,000 miles. In fact, my stepdad, told me to get my oil changed every 2,000 miles. According to the article, most cars are made to go 7,500 miles between oil changes. Well, that may be true, but cleaning up dirty engine oil and sludge will probably lengthen the life of your engine, I'm assuming--only assuming. On to myth two that I used to believe and follow: inflate tires to the pressure shown on the tire's sidewall. I believed that myth until I got new tires this summer. The sidewall on my tires said like 54 or something. My pressure gauge doesn't even go up that far! According to the article, that number is the maximum the tire can hold, not the set standard. Also, I believed the myth that I should let the engine warm up several minutes before driving (during our harsh winters here, not just always before driving). Apparently, modern engines warm up a lot quicker than those from the past. The article does warn, though, not to rev the engine up too high during the first couple minutes of driving. I only follow this rule when the temps aren't freezing! I have Astrostart and always let my car warm up before driving it during the winter because it is just so cold. I let it run for a couple of minutes just so that when I get in the car, I will be warm or at least not frozen.

Now, how does this relate to what we're talking about in class? I thought of these myths in relation to search engines. Most search engines show results from anywhere, including Wikipedia and places like Wikianswers and Yahoo! Answers where anyone anywhere, regardless of their expertise, can post information that will ultimately end up on a search engine. Many of those answers to Yahoo! Answers questions are probably myths or age-old rules that used to be true (like letting the car warm up used to be true when people had older vehicles). When researching for a class, I'm careful not to use search engines because of the huge possibility of inaccurate sources. I use Google Scholar or a search database through the libarary instead. However, when I'm looking up basic, everyday information for myself, the first place I go is Google.

This is just a link to a Yahoo! Answers Q&A about the oil change myth. Most people who answered the question said 3,000 miles for regular oil and city driving, so that kind of proves that just because an answer is common doesn't mean it's always right. So, even though I think Google is great, I'm careful not to believe everything I read on a search engine. I've actually seen people ask questions like, "Is it safe to mix medicine X with medicine Y?" I think that's a serious enough issue to ask a doctor!